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He said the government planned to complete the Polavaram project by next year and make water available through gravity flow. Water conserved in the Krishna Delta would subsequently be diverted towards Rayalaseema, he said.

Naidu said the previous government had obstructed the Pattiseema project, while his government had completed it and so far transported 490 tmc of water through the project. He said inadequate inflows into the Krishna, Srisailam reservoir, and Prakasam Barrage, which he attributed to the impact of El Nino, had made the project particularly important this year. He said water brought through Pattiseema was supplied to the delta region, helping prevent a drinking water shortage in Vijayawada.

Naidu said the NDA coalition government had already conferred land rights on 28,000 families in Visakhapatnam and 5,800 families in Mangalagiri. He said the decision to grant ownership rights was taken after considering the difficulties faced by poor families who had been living on the lands for decades. He congratulated public representatives and officials involved in the distribution of pattas to beneficiaries in NTR and Krishna districts.

The land covered by the pattas in Vijayawada alone extends over 707 acres and is valued at Rs 28,112 crore, with the value of individual plots ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore, according to the government.

The government had completed 5.5 lakh houses and was preparing to provide another 5.5 lakh houses during the coming year, he said.

Naidu criticised the previous government over its land policies between 2019 and 2024, alleging that they resulted in property disputes within families. He objected to the printing of political leaders’ images on pattadar passbooks and alleged that the Land Titling Act had created difficulties for landowners.

The Chief Minister said about Rs 800 crore was spent on printing images even on survey stones and argued that the money could instead have been used for welfare programmes.

The coalition government’s priorities, he said, were welfare, development, and wealth creation, Naidu said, and claimed that Rs 1.50 lakh crore had already been spent on developmental works.

Naidu also criticised the previous government over its opposition to the Amaravati capital project, alleging that letters had been written to the World Bank to prevent funding for the project and that various protests had been organised against Amaravati.

He said the previous administration had advocated a three-capital model and described Amaravati in negative terms. He said Amaravati would nevertheless be developed as a major capital city, with 50 per cent green cover, green energy meeting its electricity requirements, and a net-zero city objective.